STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1230

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: S.B. No. 447

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 447 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO A DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH PILOT PROGRAM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish a three-year Hiring Pilot Program within the Department of Health to increase efficiency in hiring by the Department by delegating the performance of certain human resources services from the Department of Human Resources Development to the Department of Health.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health and Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME Local 152, AFL-CIO. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Human Resources Development.

Your Committee finds that the Department of Health's current vacancy rate is approximately thirty percent and that a recent survey indicated that forty-three percent of Department of Health respondents, compared to thirty-six percent across all departments, expect to seriously look for a new job within the next twelve months. Your Committee further finds that the Department of Health conducted a Hiring Innovation for Rapid Employment (HIRE) pilot program between August 2024 and January 2025, which was aimed at reducing the hiring time and administrative workload for delegated positions. To date, twenty-seven delegated positions were recruited through the HIRE program, with an average time of fifty-three calendar days from the applicant's referral to the Department of Health's Human Resources Office to conditional offer and an eighty percent workload reduction in the Human Resources Office's minimum qualifications review. Your Committee believes that temporarily expanding the HIRE program, as proposed by this measure, will enable the Department of Health to address its civil service workforce shortage, fill its vacancies, and retain personnel.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 447 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Labor.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health,

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GREGG TAKAYAMA, Chair